Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Backtracking: Springvacation-Our First Stay-cation (continued)
















For Spring Break Shane and Geana invited us to stay with their family at a hotel in Logan. Braxton could not believe that Dalton had never stayed in a hotel before! I can count on one hand how many times I have stayed in a hotel so this was quite a treat for our family.
We ate dinner at the Pizza Factory and then went back to the hotel to let the kids swim for awhile. Gunnar and Dakota stayed in our room with Jake, Ridge, and I. Dalton and Braxton stayed with Shane and Geana and Camron because they wanted to have a sleepover with their best bud cousins. The next morning the kids got up early and ate their breakfast and waited for the pool to open so they could swim again. They had a blast playing in the pool! After we checked out of the hotel we went to Gosner's cheese for some squeaky cheese and rootbeer milk. You can't go to Cache Valley without stopping at Gosner's! You also can't go to Logan without going to Willow Park Zoo, which is where we went next. The animals were sure alert and excited! The coyotes were howling, the sandhill cranes were making all sorts of noise, the bobcat was out sunning itself, the peacock was struttin' his stuff showing off his beautiful assortment of feathers, the raccoons were training for mission impossible by climbing upside down on the ceiling of their cage! I love Willow Park. My parents took us there every fall from the time I was a toddler on. It's fun to now enjoy it with my kids. After we left Willow Park we took the kids to lunch at McDonald's and then headed for home. What a fun time!

Backtracking: Springvacation-Our First Stay-cation





The boys had a blast in the pool. Dalton and Braxton were quite the daredevils.

Gunnar looked so cute wearing Dakota's goggles.

Of course the first thing the kids had to do when we got there, (besides go swimming) was jump on the hotel beds, they thought it was awesome to jump back and forth on the two beds!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Farewell my friend . . .







It's been a rough past two days. My dad and I took my horse Guy, and his horse Misty to the vet to get their teeth floated yesterday. Guy has gotten extremely thin over the past few months. He always gets a little ribby in the winter time because of his bad teeth and that's usually when he's due to get them floated (ground down so that he can chew evenly). But he has looked way thinner than he ever has before. I was hoping his weight loss was just due to his teeth and needing worming, but deep down I had a feeling it was more than that. When my dad saw him he told me to be prepared that the vet may have some bad news. As soon as we pulled up to the vet's and unloaded him the vet had us bring him in and he pulled out his stethoscope and started checking him over. After this past year and the problems Ridge and I had I've gotten pretty good at being able to tell when a doctor is trying to tell me bad news without completely freaking me out. That's exactly what the vet started doing. He explained that Guy was in heart failure, his heart was only pumping 50%, his pulse was weak, he had bad circulation, and basically he could kill over any day now. He said best case scenario he may possibly live another year, but his quality of life would be miserable. He checked Guy's teeth and estimated him to be older than we originally thought he was. Between 23-27. Which in human years is equivalent to late 80's. So he's lived a long good life and it's time for him to move on to the "eternal pasture." This is the hardest part of having animals. I get so attached...I'll sure miss you Guy. Out of all the horses I've ever had Guy's my absolute favorite. I completely trust him. I would trust putting my kids on him, he's a gentle giant. He will be greatly missed.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

I love this!

They played this at stake standards night for the youth. I absolutely love it!
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Monday, April 5, 2010

Happy Easter & Happy Birthday Jake!
























































This year Easter, Conference Sunday, and Jake's Birthday all fell on the same day. Which meant I was SUPER busy trying to make it a great day for everyone! The hard work and preparation paid off and it turned out to be a fantastic day. The kids were so excited to wake up and find the eggs and presents the Easter Bunny had left them. There were eggs hidden all over the family room, some new clothes, and Dalton and Gunnar each got a How To Train Your Dragon toy. Ridge got clothes, a rubber duck, and a book. Then Jake got to open his birthday presents: some new shirts, flip flops, and new windshield wipers and a car wash: all of which he loved! I was in complete shock. For the past 8 years it seems like everything I've ever gotten for his birthday he has always taken back or exchanged. I've learned to keep the receipt for every purchase I ever get for him. But this year he loved and has been wearing everything he got. He even called on his way to work Monday to tell me how much he loved his new windshield wipers (his old wipers were shot!) We then ate waffles w/strawberries on top (one of Jake's favs). Then we all watched conference together. Dalton did pretty good at playing conference Bingo. Gunnar wasn't really into it so he played and kept trying to bug Dalton. And Ridge was a little angel. I bet I was at least able to soak in about 75% of the morning session, which I consider to be pretty good with three kids! We then went to my parents between sessions for hot dogs and Easter festivities. The kids had another Easter egg hunt and got spoiled with a ton more candy! I had made strawberry shortcake for dessert (Jake's favorite) then we sang to Jake. We watched the second Sunday session of conference at my parents while the kids watched a movie. After conference we went to Jake's grandparents for the semiannual after conference hot dog roast. We stayed and visited for a few hours then came home. Jake's parents and Doug and Sharell and their kids stopped by for some strawberry shortcake and to sing to Jake. Other than not liking to be sang to, Jake said he had a great birthday.
These pictures are backwards chronologically. I always forget to upload the last one's first.